Eklent Kaçi (born January 29, 1999), also known as Klenti Kaçi is an Albanian professional

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

and amateur

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player. Kaçi won the

WPA World Ten-ball Championship The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and 2011. After not bei ...

in 2021 and 2023 and reached the semi-finals of the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. He has been the top-ranked played in the world of

9-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of e ...

pool.

Career

Kaçi started playing pool at the age of eight. He has won the Albanian Snooker championships in addition to national pool championships, even though he never played snooker prior to his Federation asking him to join the event. Kaçi made his first European championship in 2013, for

ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "" Although the game has existed for since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s ...

, qualifying for the main knockout, and being eliminated in the round of 64. In 2017, Kaçi made the semi-finals of the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, losing 11–6 to Roland Garcia. The following year, at 18 years of age, Kaçi won the Aramith Masters, and became world number one later that year. At the

2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship The 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was a Nine-ball, 9-Ball pool (billiards), pool world Championships. The event took place between December 10 to 20, 2018 in the Mohammed Bin Hamad AlHitmi Indoor Hall, al-Attiya Sports Arena of the Moham ...

, Kaçi (as world number 1), lost to 17-year-old Robbie Capito 11–10 in the last 32. Kaçi won two events on the

Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool events set around Europe, founded in 1992, and created by the European Pocket Billiard Federation. The Tour's first event was the ''Belgium Open'', held on May 29 – 31, 1992. The event was won by M ...

, reaching Euro Tour number one in 2018. He won the 2018 Treviso Open, and the following season the 2019 Austria Open.

Career titles

* U.K. Open 9-Ball Championship (2023) *

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

s **

(2021, 2023) *

Mosconi Cup The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1994 between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the Ryder Cup in golf and the Weber ...

(

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

) * American Straight Pool Championship (2018) * Pro Billiard Series ** Austria Open (2021) * World Pool Series ** Aramith Masters (2017) ** Predator Grand Finale (2017) *

European Pool Championship European Pool Championship (also called Dynamic European Championships) is a pool competition organized by the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF). The tournament is held annually since 1980. It should not be confused with the series of small ...

** Eight-Ball (2019) *

** Treviso Open (2018) ** Austria Open (2019) * Albanian Amateur Snooker Championship (2016, 2018, 2021)

References

External links

Eklent Kaçi at AZBilliards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaçi, Eklent 1999 births Living people Albanian pool players WPA World Ten-ball Champions